Hittite

[ hit-ahyt ]

noun

1. a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 b.c.
2. an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium b.c. Compare Hieroglyphic Hittite.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Hittites or their language.

Hittite

/ ˈhɪtaɪt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient people of Anatolia, who built a great empire in N Syria and Asia Minor in the second millennium bc
2. the extinct language of this people, deciphered from cuneiform inscriptions found at Boǧazköy and elsewhere. It is clearly related to the Indo-European family of languages, although the precise relationship is disputed

adjective

1. of or relating to this people, their civilization, or their language

Other Words From

• post-Hittite adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hittite¹

1600–10; < Hebrew ḥitt ( īm ) Hittite (compare Hittite Khatti ) + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

The answer recently arrived in the form of an amber brew that Mr. McDonnell believes is the closest approximation yet to what Rameses the Great may have been drinking between battles with the Hittites.

From New York Times

The 3 centuries after 1600 B.C.E. also marked the heyday of such civilizations as the Mycenaeans in Greece, the Hittites and Babylonians in the Near East, and Egypt’s New Kingdom.

From Science Magazine

Archaeological digs for Hittite antiquities aimed to provide the new republic with a past rooted even more deeply than Greece and Italy.

From New York Times

No one knows for sure what happened to the ancient Hittite Empire.

From Washington Post

It was previously controlled by the Hittites, Assyrians and the Ottoman Empire, Casana said.

From Seattle Times